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Governors of the 19 northern states have resolved to partner with the Central Bank of Nigeria in addressing the problem of poverty and backwardness of the region. The Chairman of the Northern Governors’ forum and Niger State Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu, stated this at a one-day seminar on Economic Empowerment through Microfinance and other Investment Opportunities, organised by the CBN and his administration in Minna on Thursday.

My recent encounters with some state governors gave me the impression that all hope is yet not lost in the Nigeria project. I came away with the impression that some of the governors actually have a good idea of what is expected of them but may have been hampered by some institutional inadequacies and/or structural or systemic defects. But all these challenges are still within the physical and mental capacity of Nigerians to handle.

With the retention of local government system in the nations' statutes, Aliyu said development in council areas would be better guaranteed while those elected to man the affairs at that level of government would be adequately supervised to ensure that the electorate get value for their vote.

In the contemporary Nigerian situation, the traditional rulers still seem to have the kind of respect they wielded in the colonial era. In the modern time, even if an elected officer, say governor or National Assembly member, says anything, people still sometimes get clarifications from the traditional rulers before carrying out orders. More often than not, we use the traditional rulers to get the people directly.

Chairman of Northern Forum and Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu has identified unjust structures and policies by successive administrations as the bane for the full realization of nation’s sustainable development and national integration.

All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate for Niger State in the last polls, David Umaru, has lost an interlocutory application he brought to strengthen his appeal against the declaration of Muazu Babangida Aliyu as winner of the governorship election in the state.

The project, which covers about 572 km, stretches from Warri in Delta State to Baro in Niger State. Minister of Transportation, Deziani Allison-Madueke, ...

Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu at the weekend gave fresh insights into why the state was ahead of other states on rice production.A statement made available to THISDAY by his office said that in a bid to maximise the opportunity provided by the state's land mass, Aliyu's administration acquired 220 tractors and implements, thereby forcing the subsistence farmers to embrace ...

As 2008 rolls to a close in the next few days, one major issue that Nigerians will remember about the year is the huge toll on human lives and property allegedly lost to communal and religious crises in the past 12 months. Taking the lead, obviously, is the recent political crisis in Jos, which claimed over 300 lives and property yet to be estimated.

For professional teachers in Niger State, the state government has made provision for a 30 per cent addition to their salary from January 2009.

Last week, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) shifted blame for the cause of poverty searing the soul of Northern Nigeria to national leadership provided by southerners. A week earlier, Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State took a swipe at Northern emirs as the forces that fuel poverty and corruption in the region.

Niger State government has condemned the booing of former Chief of Army Staff, General Muhamadu Inuwa Wushsishi on Friday at the Judiciary Commission of Inquiry (JCI).

Niger State governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday said he did not abuse traditional rules as alleged against him just as he clarified that he only raised issues that could play advisory roles for the emirs.He maintained that because of this misrepresentation by some mischiefmakers in the state, certain individuals are now trying to instigate the emirs against him. Aliyu, however, noted that if what he said as a kind of advice to traditional institutions amounts to abusing of emirs then he has no apology for anybody.

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has urged that Nigerian leaders should thread the path of honesty in their stewardship to the people they govern. Comrade Oshiomhole lamented a situation where greed has driven so many public holders to amass wealth at the expense of the governed, adding that the situation has placed Nigeria by the World Bank as "a core poor nation".

Northern Governors' Forum Chairman and governor of Niger State Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu.......said the northern states are fully determined to ensure New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN) is put on a sound footing to be able to cover the areas and the country properly.

No individual Nigerian – dead or alive – has featured in this column positively, as frequently as the Chief Servant of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu. This is not based on any close relationship between the writer and the governor, or on any claim of such affinity. I am rather persuaded by a deeper sense of judgment which should constitute the cardinal consideration in a column of this nature, under normal circumstances

Ndanusa, a well known sports administrator from Niger State was among the sixteen new ministers sworn in yesterday at the State House by the president.

Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, on his part advised Buhari and Atiku to assist YarÁdua to move the country ...

Former Kano State governor, Sabo Bakin Zuwo, had his origin traced to Nupe in Niger state, but his great grand parents migrated and lived in Kano where he ...

Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has rightly pointed out. People are leaving Jos en-masse on daily basis for the fear of unknown. Perhaps, Gov. ...

Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State yesterday heaped the blame for corruption and north's economic backwardness on Northern traditional rulers, ...

The chairman, Niger State Market Union, Alhaji Abdullahi Sharu Achida, has called on the Niger State government to abide by an earlier agreement and move the market early January.

The member representing Niger Zone B in the Senate, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta has challenged female journalists to intensify efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases by engaging in sensitization programmes

Born at Kutigi community of Niger State in December 31, 1931, the CJN had both his primary and secondary schools in Niger State. He proceeded to the United ...

A bedridden auto-electrical engineer yesterday gave a vivid account of how he escaped from ritualists that tried to kill him at Suleja, in Niger State.

One of the major problems of the Nigerian state since independence is how to galvanize the disparate peoples who make up “the geographical expression” called Nigeria. Thus, several years after the exit of the colonialists, national integration problems have continued to hamstring the Nigerian state

Again, another policeman, one Sergeant Ibrahim Danjuma, and an Abuja-based business, were reportedly killed in Minna, the Niger State capital, the same week ...

GOVERNORS of the 19 states in the North met in Kaduna last month, to receive various committee reports on an economic development agenda for the region. They also brainstormed on fertilizer procurement, desert encroachment, and the recent resolution by their wives to accelerate efforts in enhancing the health status of Northerners. The governors were similarly briefed on the Seafarers Development Initiatives, an idea into which they have bought, as well as on the establishment of the Nigerian Science and Technology Park.

The Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has cautioned the people of Northern Nigeria to guard against a repeat of what happened in Jos, ...

Tension and fear gripped Minna and Kontagora towns in Nigeria's Niger state on Friday over the news of possible reprisal of last week's Jos riot, in which 300 people lost their lives and property worth millions of naira were destroyed.

THE Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday, assured the 738 corps members who reported for their one year mandatory National Youth Service in the state of their safety throughout the duration of their service year.Because of fears of possible spread of the Jos mayhem which claimed the lives of three of their colleagues, our findings revealed that, only about 738 out of 750 corps members posted to Niger State reported for the service year.

There was palpable tension in Minna and Kontagora in Niger State on Friday as non-indigenes hurriedly locked up their businesses and stayed at home, as rumours of a planned spillover of the Jos mayhem spread around both cities.

EID-el-Kabir, a Muslim festive period is here again and another rush for rams by Muslim faithful has begun. Ram is one of the animals allowed by the Islamic doctrine to be slaughtered during Eid-el-kabir . Other animals that can be slaughtered during this religious feast are camels, goats, cows and sheep. It is however important that any of these animals that will be slaughtered should be very healthy and must not have any type of defect. Apart from pockets of farmers who breed rams and goats in Niger state, the animals are not available in the quantity that would satisfy the huge demand ...

It was not a terror attack. It was a dispute over an election conducted into the 17 council areas of Plateau State. At the end of the exercise, hundreds of corpses were picked from the streets of Jos. The mayhem was kindled when reports got to ANPP supporters that the PDP had rigged the election and ‘captured’ the Jos North Local Government. But the political crisis, as usual, soon assumed a more devastating religious dimension. Armed youths in the camps of the two main religions confronted themselves. Private business premises were razed. Churches and mosques were burnt. Reprisal attacks may soon reverberate in other parts of the country.

Alhaji Abdulrahman Hassan Gimba was said to have made a mess of the Sports development in Nigeria, throughout his tenure, Gimba showed a complete ...

As part of its effort to bring lasting peace among the different religious groups in Niger State, an inter-religious committee has been set up to engender constant dialogue across the divides. The governor of the state, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, made this known when members of the state Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) paid him a courtesy call yesterday in Minna. Governor Aliyu who frowned at the frequent religious crises in the country, observed that most of such crises have economic rather than religious undertone. He said Christianity and Islam advocate peace and do not propagate the doctrine of wanton destruction of lives and property in whatever guise, adding that the society must condemn in strong terms those who engineer crisis in order to benefit from the misfortune of others. He said religious leaders must shy away from people who use religion as a platform to achieve their economic or political agenda. Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Niger State Chairman of CAN, Reverend Dauda Maigari, said they were at the Government House to thank the governor for his all-inclusive leadership style that is impacting positively on the lives of the people. Rev. Maigari called on the governor to impress on the state House of Assembly to hasten the passage of the bill on the establishment of Christian Pilgrims Commission already before it.

... hosted by the fede-ration were the Famous Top 8 National Volleyball League and the National Division two and three League in Minna, Niger State. ...

Lagos — National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), recently embarked on a raid of 10 major markets in Niger State, to mop up adulterated and substandard products. The markets raided are Minna Central Market, Minna Gwari Market, Beji Market, Kontagora Modern Market; Lapai Main Market, IBB Market Suleja, Beri Market, Garatu Market Katiregi Market; and Bida Modern Market. NAFDAC Unit Head, Mrs Talatu Mohammed, in an interview with our correspondent in Minna, Niger State capital, said part of the mission of NAFDAC officials to the market was to sensitise the people on the need to stop sale of 25kilogramms bags of iodised salt. She said the iodised salt had been banned, because they do not retain the iodine content up till consumption point.......

Son of the Executive Secretary/ CEO of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Adamu-Biu Ahmadu was one of the 10 winners at this year's Ships and Ports Essay Competition tagged The 2nd Ships and Ports Annual National Essay Competition. At the impressive and well attended prize presentation ceremony in Lagos penultimate Thursday, the young Ahmadu won the Genesis Worldwide Shipping Prize for Outstanding Essay alongside Airadion Phidelix Friday but the star prize of the competition, Dangote Port Operation Prize for Best Overall Essay was won by Mr. Adewale Opeyemi, a Masters degree student of Archaeology at the Federal University of Technology, Minna Niger State.

One of the reasons why the federal structure is under severe stress is due to the deliberate desire of the elite to misconstrue the composition and characteristics of the constituent units that make up the federation. I agree it was Nigerians who came together in the American fashion to agree and sign a treaty on how to be a federation. I also agree that since the early Nigerians were subsumed by superior colonial firepower into submission, it is imperative that the system would have worked better if sincere attempts were made by the elite of the various groups to study and understand the peculiarities and similarities that characterise the different segments of the population. The problem with a member of the Nigerian elite is that he is innately selfish. The law of self-preservation as the first law of nature is taken too far and, in the process, we lose the common humanity of being our brother’s keepers.

...Babangida Aliyu Didn't Say That
I was shocked when I heard about the supposed response of Alhaji Shehu Malami, the former Sarkin Sudan of Wurno, and the subsequent commentaries coming from select Nigerians on the misinformation that the governor of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu, had accused Northern Emirs of being responsible for the endemic poverty in the region. The first shock I got was while reading the report credited to a reporter of the Daily Trust who captured the news as a headline some two Mondays ago. I was at a meeting in Zaria convened by the Niger State community in Ahmadu Bello University to discuss a paper on poverty in Northern Nigeria delivered by my teacher, Dr Abubakar Siddique Muhammed. I wasn't the only discussant. There was Dr Masud Omar from the Department of Local Government Studies, ABU, and Alhaji Iliyasu Dhacko, Niger State coordinator, NAPEP. Governor Aliyu spent much of the time (while it was time to address the gathering) responding to two issues I had raised in my contribution. One was the issue of public-private partnership and the other on proliferation of state universities in the North. He was clear about his position and why he took those positions. I sat closer to the governor than any newspaper reporter while he was speaking. I also do have a fair understanding of the English language. The emphasis made by Governor Aliyu on traditional institutions in the region was rather a lamentation for the gradual but sudden denudation of the responsibilities of the institution which, he argued, was very revered in the region until the advent of modern government which definitely took away most of the natural responsibilities placed on them by God and tradition. He called for a constitutional role for the monarchs in view of the historic roles that they played and that they are to play if the region is to be propelled out of the doldrums of poverty. He remembered with nostalgia how the traditional institutions moderated the social, political and economic temperatures of their citizens, and gave examples of the absolute control the rulers had over their societies, to the extent that any visitor into their territory was known to them and they determined which family or compound would play host to such visitors. Depending on the occupation of the stranger, the emir or chief determined who his or her host was in the city or village. This intelligence is what is obtained in serious societies even in modern governments. We lost ours through the gradual and sudden erosion of the responsibilities of the traditional rulers and only turn back to them when the modern state is in crisis and seeking the intervention of the royal fathers to maintain peace. These, in my understanding, were the words of lamentation aimed at re-invigorating the traditional institution which, in his view, remains the best bet in community mobilisation and harmonious coexistence. Without the traditional institutions actively involved in the war against poverty, Governor Babangida submitted, the end of the epidemic would not be in sight. I don't know where the reporters got their own version of Babangida's input in Zaria as to create that imaginary and very volatile summary which has been efficiently capitalised on by those who probably were looking for the smallest opportunity to hang the man. I say with no fear of contradiction that Babangida Aliyu did not accuse the emirs as reported. Equally disturbing was the sudden attack that came first from Alhaji Shehu Malami on the issue. I thought that, as an elder, he would weigh the reality of the claims and the input of whatever response he would make on the issue, but, unfortunately, he rushed to press with a very unpleasant and personal condemnation of the allegation as if he was already waiting for such opportunity to pounce on the governor of Niger State. I am worried because I was not just there in Zaria, but one of the few who had the opportunity to be listened to. It will be a disservice if I keep quiet while some people find a new vocation on spitting fire and threatening that hell will be let loose on claims that they neither corroborated nor were primary listeners. I think Alhaji Shehu Malami needs to apologise to Dr Aliyu for that outburst which was based on false information. I will not like to see or hear either Governor Aliyu or any of his supporters respond to Malami's outburst in a manner that might expose him to the negative. Nigerians must learn to speak on sensitive issues, especially from informed positions. There is a stage in life when people must be taken seriously and rightly too. What I do believe is that Dr Aliyu did not pile the blame of either Northern backwardness or level of poverty on the traditional institution. What he did was to lament the gradual denudation of the influence that the institution had over time, and he called for its reinvigoration. It is unfortunate that people could cash in on misinformation and falsehood to score cheap political goals. There is need for people to exercise some measure of decorum and discipline in whatever they do. The bottom line is that the press and some Nigerians are unfair to Dr Babangida Aliyu. He deserves some apology from those who made a cheap blackmail out of the Zaria statements.

Worried by the negative publicity generated by his alleged criticism of traditional rulers as agents for the spread of poverty in the North, the Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has sent emissaries to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, and some other prominent emirs in the country to explain his comments. Some media reports had quoted Aliyu as making sweeping remarks on his condemnation of traditional rulers at the one-day seminar on poverty in the North and the launch of a book written by the Niger State community at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. A former Communica-tions Minister and Talban Bauchi, Dr. Ibrahim Tahir, who disclosed this to journalists in Minna at the weekend, said the high-powered delegation sent to the emirs was aimed at putting the records straight. Tahir disclosed that he had personally spoken to the governor and came out convinced that he did not make such sweeping remarks about the royal fathers. According to Tahir, the governor had been in the vanguard of those advocating for constitutional roles for traditional rulers in the country. "He has high regards for the traditional institution and had on many occasions kicked against the idea of using the royal fathers as fire brigade in times of crisis rather than empowering them constitutionally to curb such incidence before escalation," he said.
Responding to a question, the former minister blamed the high poverty rate in the country on graft by the leadership and lack of steady electricity supply, pointing out that poverty was prevalent in all parts of the country. He also took a swipe at the Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, for saying that the global economic meltdown would not affect Nigeria, saying recent events had proved the CBN governor wrong. Tahir was in Minna to attend the Productivity and Honours Award ceremony organised by the Niger State government.